With Chicago Public Schools chief executive Pedro Martinez now fighting for his job amid reported pressure from Mayor Brandon Johnson for him to step down, this week brings two crucial meetings that could impact the way forward for the city’s public school system.
Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union will host a public bargaining session Tuesday evening, while the full Board of Education will meet Thursday to vote on a packed agenda that includes one conspicuous new item.
When the agenda for this week’s Board of Education meeting was released Tuesday morning, it included a plan for a moratorium on school closures through 2027. However, this resolution was not discussed at the agenda review held by the Board of Education last Wednesday, at which the members outlined each item to be presented for a vote during the full board meeting.
The addition comes as Martinez has faced accusations of plotting school closures in the district, with the claims spearheaded by the Chicago Teachers Union – a close ally of Mayor Brandon Johnson, who sources say unsuccessfully asked Martinez to resign last week.
The CTU announced Sunday that union representatives had unanimously passed a vote of no confidence in Martinez at a delegates’ meeting last week.
Martinez has emphatically denied all allegations that he plans to close or consolidate schools, calling the CTU’s efforts a “misinformation campaign” in an email to CPS staff on Tuesday.
The new agenda item, a resolution which will place a moratorium on any “closures, consolidations, and phase-outs” for Chicago Public Schools institutions until the end of the 2026-2027 school year, seems to include language that directly responds to the union’s claims regarding Martinez.
“CEO Pedro Martinez has consistently and publicly stated that he will not propose district-managed school closures, consolidations or phase-outs during his tenure as CEO,” the Board of Education states in the resolution, which also refers to the moratorium as an “adoption” of the chief executive’s own “recommendation.”
The teachers union accusing Martinez of attempting to close schools is striking, since a statewide bill to extend Illinois’ moratorium on school closures until 2027 was struck down this spring after Johnson and the CTU fought hard in Springfield to stop it from coming to a vote.
The statewide moratorium is now set to expire in January of 2025.
Meanwhile, on the docket for the public bargaining session on Tuesday between the union and the district is a discussion of “sustainable community schools,” a model where certain CPS schools provide additional academic, health and social support services in partnership with community organizations.
In a statement on Sunday, CTU referred to sustainable community schools as an “important pillar of our vision for equity and justice in CPS.”
Currently, there are 20 such schools in total across the district. The union has stated that they hope to win a commitment to create additional sustainable community schools in their next contract.
“The current mayor’s transition report aims to expand the SCS model: transforming the district means providing the resources that SCS offers in all schools,” wrote a union spokesperson Tuesday in an email to the Tribune.
Their proposals to be presented tonight also include a call for “increased and intentional school staffing” at all sustainable community schools, according to the spokesperson.
The program has also faced opposition, particularly from charter school and school choice advocates, who argue that outcomes for students have been inconsistent and that CTU is too heavily involved in the creation and management of these new institutions.
Public bargaining will begin at 5 p.m. tonight at Daniel R. Cameron Elementary School in Humboldt Park, located at 1234 N. Monticello Avenue.
